Yerba Mate vs. Green Tea and Energy Drinks

Yerba Mate compared to Green Tea:

While yerba mate and green tea share many of the same benefits, (antioxidants, polyphenols, flavenoids, bioflavenoids, and theophylline) modern science shows that yerba mate has more active compounds than green tea, 52 to be exact. Yerba mate boasts an impressive 196 active compounds as compared to the 144 found in green tea. In fact, yerba mate has higher polyphenol and antioxidant counts than both green and black teas.

Technically, green tea is the Camellia sinensis plant, and is immediatly flash heated after being picked, and is not fermented or roasted. Healthwise, green teas are superior to oolong and black teas, as many of the beneficial antioxidant compounds are protected by the green tea production process. Black teas may taste sweeter because they are fermented and then roasted whereby the sugars carmelize, but this flavor comes at the expense of its antioxidant qualities. Yerba mate, is processed much like a green tea, but is not "green tea".

Yerba Mate compared to Energy Drinks:

Yerba Maté Has Most Antioxidants, Polyphenols

"CHAMPAIGN, Ill.—Yerba maté tea-based beverages contained the largest antioxidant and polyphenol content among tea-based and non-tea-based drink in a recent study published in the Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety (doi 10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00111.x). Brands included in the study were Guayakí Yerba Mate, Honest Tea, Monster Energy, Red Bull, and Sobe, among others.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana reviewed the U.S. energy drink market with emphasis on its market size, target demographic, active ingredients, potential benefits, safety and regulations. Several mainstream energy drinks, 16 non-tea-based and 15 tea-based, including yerba maté, were analyzed for their antioxidant content using the ORAC assay, and the total polyphenol concentration was measured in the same energy drinks with the Folin-Ciocalteu method.

They found tea-based energy drinks had much higher antioxidant capacities and polyphenol concentrations than non tea-based energy drinks. Yerba maté drinks contained up to 100-fold higher amounts of antioxidants and polyphenols compared to the mainstream non-tea-based drinks, and Guayakí Yerba Maté had the largest antioxidant and polyphenol content among the tea-based drinks.

Yerba mate has significant antioxidant activity. In a study published in 1995 by Biochemicaland Molecular Biology International, researchers concluded that water extracts of yerba mate “were more potent antioxidants than either ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or butylated hydroxytoluene.” A few years later, a group of researchers embarked on a study to again investigate the antioxidant properties of Ilex paraguariensis infusions. Those findings were published in March of 2000 in the journal Biochemical and Biophysica Research Communications. Their results suggest “that ingestion of extracts of Ilex paraguariensis could contribute to increase the antioxidant defense of an organism against free radicals attack.” In a more recent study, published in the November 2001 issue of Fitoterapia, researchers took a look at seven different plant species in South America. They found that yerba mate “contained a higher content of flavonoids and caffeoyl derivatives than any other assayed species.”Guayaki offers a blend of yerba mate with green tea and lemon grass. Greener Green Tea is an antioxidant powerhouse! Brew a cup to spark up your day and boost your antioxidant levels. Try it as a refreshing iced tea - it even brews cold in minutes and is delicious.